Re: Freedom Scientific's Lack of Support for Hardware
- From: "Gene" <guystevens@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 20:49:14 -0400
I don't think they picked on anyone. They made a business decision, that's
all. Maybe they didn't think there would be enough units sold to make it
cost effective to support.
Thanks; Gene
On MSN and Yahoo - guystevens@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wil James" <wil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 8:40 PM
Subject: RE: Freedom Scientific's Lack of Support for Hardware
> How true that is, but the point you are missing here is GW Micro wants to
> make their products universal in supporting hardware. FS clearly does
> not.
> Even though the market share is in FS's court, it makes sense to me to
> include support for even the Braille Sense, even though it isn't their
> product. Hell, they could have said, "To hell with the Braille Note
> because
> of its popularity!" They would have been trying to weather a sh*tstorm if
> they did that, and they know it. Why pick on this little guy, though?
>
>
>
>
> --------------------
> Do you want to know about new products when they come out? Do you have a
> product the blind community would benefit from? Please send a blank
> message
> to
> new-products-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> -------------------
> E-mail/MSN:
> wil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Skype:
> wiljames
> I C Q:
> 95379501
> My blog:
> http://wil.wilanddenise.com
> --------------------
> -----Original Message-----
> From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
> Of Barry Campbell
> Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 8:13 PM
> To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: RE: Freedom Scientific's Lack of Support for Hardware
>
> I hate to tell anyone this but all companies care about the profit and =
> as
> long as people keep buying their product, no matter how good or bad it =
> is
> the company is happy. You people are ideolistic if you believe Freedom
> Scientific or GW Micro gives a dam about you. =20
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On =
> Behalf
> Of RJ
> Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2005 8:07 PM
> To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: Freedom Scientific's Lack of Support for Hardware
>
>
> It appears as FS couldn't care less about the blind consumers. It is =
> profit and profit only they seem to care about. The last two upgrades were
> a
> disaster for win 98 c users in my opinion. RJ
> ----- Original Message -----=20
> From: "Gene" <guystevens@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 7:55 PM
> Subject: Re: Freedom Scientific's Lack of Support for Hardware
>
>
>> No company I know of supports every piece of hardware that comes
>> out.=20 If
> FS
>> has a product they think is comparable to the hardware in question=20
>> then of course they aren't going to support something built by the=20
>> competition.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks; Gene
>>
>> On MSN and Yahoo - guystevens@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Wil James" <wil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 7:48 PM
>> Subject: Freedom Scientific's Lack of Support for Hardware
>>
>>
>> > This makes no sense to me in any way, shape, fashion, or form.
>> > Let=20 me set up the context for you.
>> >
>> > Someone wrote on the GW Micro list about the Braille Sense, the=20
>> > newesst PDA from GW Micro, inquiring about a driver for JAWS to work
>> > =
>
>> > with its braille display. I was shocked to see the below response.
>> > =
>
>> > This is directly from Doug Geoffray.
>> >
>> > Begin Quote
>> > Hello Robert,
>> >
>> > I'm very glad you asked this question. This has generated great=20
>> > frustration for me.
>> >
>> > With Window-Eyes, our philosophy is to support as many
>> > synthesizers=20 and as many braille displays as possible. Even if
>> > this means we=20 need to support products from competing companies.
>> > It just seems so clear in my =
> mind
>> > that
>> > this is the only approach.
>> >
>> > However, Freedom Scientific obviously doesn't feel as I do about=20
>> > this. HIMS had contacted Freedom Scientific several months ago=20
>> > regarding the ability to create a JAWS driver for the Braille Sense.
>> > =
> =20
>> > Freedom
>> > Scientific never responded. Thinking I had a better relationship =
> with
>> > Freedom, I decided to send an email to Eric Damery directly=20
>> > regarding this. Like HIMS, I never got a response. A couple
>> > weeks=20 ago I saw Eric in person and asked him about this... He
>> > said he=20 would get back with me by
>> >
>> > the end of the week with what I needed. Well, I did hear back in=20
>> > email at the end of the week but it wasn't what I needed. Let me=20
>> > quote Eric's official response:
>> >
>> > "At this time, we don't feel it makes good business sense for=20
>> > Freedom Scientific to work with HIMS or their Distributors to=20
>> > provide the necessary specification or support the development of
>> > a=20 driver to be used by JAWS for Windows."
>> >
>> > This just blew me away. Since the beginning of Freedom
>> > Scientific=20 all I
>> >
>> > have heard is that this one stop shopping idea is best for the user.
>> > =
> =20
>> > Creating one company that handles all products for all blind and=20
>> > visually impaired users is only going to help the industry and of=20
>> > course
>> >
>> > blind people. Well, all I have seen are prices going up and fear of
>> > =
>
>> > competition and anything that can be done to squash competition even
>> > =
>
>> > if that means not giving existing and future JAWS users access to=20
>> > all their
>> >
>> > options. Options such as the Braille Sense.
>> >
>> > Keep in mind that with Window-Eyes we, meaning GW Micro, create
>> > all=20 the synthesizer and braille drivers ourselves. With JAWS,
>> > the=20 drivers are not written by Freedom Scientific but usually
>> > the=20 manufacturer of the device. So for the Braille Sense, we are
>> > not=20 asking Freedom Scientific to create the driver, we are asking
>> > for the development kit they =
> already
>> > have
>> > which documents how the driver should be written to interface into
>> > JAWS. Bottom line, there is no extra work on Freedom's part to =
> create
>> > this
>> > driver. We will do that. But they refuse to give us the existing
>> > necessary information simply because it competes with their PACMate
>> > which has been struggling.
>> >
>> > My frustration is that Freedom Scientific has grown so big and=20
>> > arrogant that they can turn their back on blind users simply for
>> > a=20 buck.
>> >
>> > So Robert, to answer your question specifically. We would love
>> > to=20 create a JAWS driver for the Braille Sense. But Freedom
>> > Scientific=20 is tieing our
>> >
>> > hands because they feel threatened by the Braille Sense. End Quote
>> >
>> >
>> > -------------------------------------
>> > This message was written and composed on the Pac mate.
>> > --------------------------------------
>> > Visit my blog at
>> > http://wil.wilanddenise.com
>> > ------------------------------
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > To post a message to the list, send it to jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To
>> > unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a message to
>> > jfw-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject =
> line.
>> > Archives located at: //www.freelists.org/archives/jfw
>> >
>> > If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the =
> list, or
>> > the way the list is being run, do not post them to the list. Rather
>> > contact the list owner at jfw-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> >
>>
>>
>> --
>> To post a message to the list, send it to jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To
>> unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a message to
> jfw-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
>> Archives located at: //www.freelists.org/archives/jfw
>>
>> If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list,
>> =
> or
> the way the list is being run, do not post them to the list. Rather =
> contact the list owner at jfw-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>
> --
> To post a message to the list, send it to jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe
> from this mailing list, send a message to jfw-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
> the
> word unsubscribe in the subject line.
> Archives located at: //www.freelists.org/archives/jfw
>
> If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or =
> the way the list is being run, do not post them to the list. Rather
> contact
> = the list owner at jfw-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> --
> To post a message to the list, send it to jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe
> from this mailing list, send a message to jfw-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
> the
> word unsubscribe in the subject line.
> Archives located at: //www.freelists.org/archives/jfw
>
> If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or
> the
> way the list is being run, do not post them to the list. Rather contact
> the
> list owner at jfw-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
> --
> To post a message to the list, send it to jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a message to
> jfw-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
> Archives located at: //www.freelists.org/archives/jfw
>
> If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or
> the way the list is being run, do not post them to the list. Rather
> contact the list owner at jfw-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
--
To post a message to the list, send it to jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a message to
jfw-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
Archives located at: //www.freelists.org/archives/jfw
If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or the
way the list is being run, do not post them to the list. Rather contact the
list owner at jfw-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Other related posts:
